Curie and Radioactivity

Marie Curie
1867 - 1934

In this podcast, Jack and Mark discuss the idea that unbalanced forces in the nucleus of an atom cause radioactivity, a phenomena first explored by the great Polish scientist, Marie Curie. Her life was a testament to the value of persistence and hard work. She not only had to spend countless days manually refining uranium ore, but also dealing with the systemic sexism of the scientific community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Unfortunately, that marginalization still exists today...but hopefully to a lesser extent, due, in part, to the accomplishments of Marie Curie and her daughter, Irene.

Podcast length: 42:36

Show Notes:

Selected Awards and Publications associated with Marie Curie:

Marie Curie's
PhD Thesis
Nobel Prize Certificate (1903)
Nobel Prize Certificate (1911)
Lab Notebook (1898)
First issue of le Radium, the first Journal on Radioactivity
Excerpt from Marie Curie's book published in 1904. Figure 1 from the book describes the use of an electrometer used to measure radioactivity

Discussed in the episode:

Simple planetary model
(not physically accurate)
Three common types of radioactive decay
Quarks composing a proton and a neutron.
U stands for an "up" quark. D stands for a "down quark.

Other items of interest related to this podcast:

Marie and Pierre Curie in the lab
Bowl used by Marie Curie to grind pitchblende.
This photo was take in complete darkness. The
image was due to film exposure to radiation caused by radioactivity.
Marie Curie and her two daughters
Eve (left) and Irene (right)